One of tech's most important investors says 'you'll see some dead unicorns this year' among startups worth $1 billion

In a SXSW keynote on Sunday, investor Bill Gurley warned that
Silicon Valley's golden age could soon be over — and that some of
today's biggest startups could go down with it.

Gurley is a prominent investor known for investments in Uber and
Snapchat.

But Gurley is also known for his pessimistic outlook on the tech
industry. He warned during a talk at SXSW that "a complete
absence of fear" in Silicon Valley had led venture-capital firms
to take big risks on tech companies.

Gurley went on to say that Silicon Valley's optimism could lead
to the death of so-called "unicorn" companies — startups that
reach a $1 billion valuation before their IPO. Those companies
could face a turn in the market in the near future. "I do think
you'll see some dead unicorns this year," Gurley said.

Right now, becoming a $1 billion "unicorn" is a badge of honor
for any startup. Work messaging tool Slack famously set its
sights on becoming a unicorn, with founder Stewart Butterfield
telling
Fortune that it was the company's aim: "Yes, it’s arbitrary
because it’s a big round number. It does make a difference
psychologically. One billion is better than $800 million because
it’s the psychological threshold for potential customers,
employees, and the press."

Fortune
devoted its February cover story to tech unicorns, pointing
out that since the term was coined back in 2013, the number of
unicorns has grown from 39 to more than 80. The rise of unicorns
is a good indicator of the rise in available venture capital for
startups, and shows how prepared investors are to fund young
companies.

The number of tech unicorns is
thought to have doubled in the past 12 months, with data from
Digi-Capital showing that there are now more than ever before. In
2014 there were 68 unicorns in mobile internet companies alone,
with a total value of around $261 billion.